Monday, March 08, 2010

All-wimmin shortlists for state-owned boards?

So today is International Women's Day. Why we need an international day for anyone or anything I will never quite understand, but I thought it amusing that Gordon Brown has said the following,

“And because I believe the public sector can and should set an example, I’m also making a new commitment that all state-owned companies will be required to increase the number of women on their boards over the next two years. Not through rigid quotas but by reaching out to successful women in all walks of life who have got a big contribution to make.”

Got that. He's going to make it a requirement to increase the number of owman on the boards of publicly-owned companies but doesn't intend to use quotas?

Methinks, if we take it on face value that quotas will not be used, that this implies one of two things. Either it will be one of those meaningless things like how all parents have the "right" to "ask" for flexible working hours but not the right actually "have" flexible working hours. Or he's going to introduce "all-wimmin" shortlists for interviews.